In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

177 Falluja April 8, 2004 The best way to ignite the Islamic World is to bomb an important mosque. Our military has just taken that step and we have opened the gates of hell. Tensions between Sunni and Shi’a have quickly lessened as they join together against the occupation of their country. When our forces were driven from Shuala, it was the action of Sunni and Shi’a fighting together. Pathetic comments from Press Secretary Scott McClellan blame the resistance on a small number of extremists. Contrary to media opinion, Falluja was not a hotbed of resistance during the outset of the war. It became so on April 28th when our troops opened fire on a group of 200 peaceful demonstrators and killed 15 of them. Our military claimed they were returning, fire but a Human Rights Watch investigation determined that the protesters were unarmed. And now we have bombed the mosque in Falluja killing at least 40 people. Not satisfied with creating a massive resistance from the Sunni, our leadership has chosen to pick a fight with the Shi’a followers of Moqtada al-Sadr. This was triggered by the closing of Sadr’s newspaper al-Hawza. The paper was not closed for advocating violence. It was closed because of an eyewitness claim that a supposed car bombing killing numerous volunteers for the New Iraqi defense forces was actually done by a US plane. It seems that if our forces were directed by Saddam himself, they could not have created such militant opposition. A loss of control is seen in Basra, Najaf, Kerbala, Nasiriyah, Kufa, Kut, Diwaniyah, Thawra, Shuala and Kadhimiyah. And if we look to Baghdad, the people in the Shi’a slums who are now furiously resisting the Americans, still hate Saddam with a passion. They suffered under his repression, they suffered under the sanctions and they were expecting some change after the 2003 invasion. And now Mr. Rumsfeld says we are facing a test of will. We should remind Mr. Rumsfeld that a strong will to continue a failed policy is a 178 sign of mental collapse. Friends, we must resist this counter-productive policy. From Friday, April 9th through Monday April 12th, there will be nationally coordinated emergency demonstrations in cities and towns throughout the country. Another world is possible. Let us love one another. For a free copy of this commentary [or any other] commentary, call the Office of the Americas at 323/852-9808 or visit the OOA web site at http://www.officeoftheamericas.org. This is Blase Bonpane. ...

Share